Triphthong

Categories: Vowels

In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick, but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, triphthongs have a moving tongue.

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the first element in Bernese German (a Swiss German dialect):

[iə̯w] as in Gieu 'boy'
[yə̯w] as in Gfüeu 'feeling'
[uə̯w] as in Schueu 'school'
[yə̯j] as in Müej 'trouble'

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the second element in Spanish:

[wej] as in buey 'ox'
[waj] as in Uruguay

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the third element in Romanian (semivocalic phonemes marked with reversed circumflex accents):

[ěǒa] as in pleoape 'eyelids'
[ǐǒa] as in creioane 'pencils'

The following British Received Pronunciation vowel sequences are sometimes analyzed as triphthongs stressed on the first element (they are also analyzed as disyllabic sequences of a diphthong and a monophthong):

[aʊ̯ə] as in hour
[aɪ̯ə] as in fire

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Triphthong

See also